K-Pop Indie Gem: Bye Bye Sea

You may have seen them appear on a few popular dramas, including SBS’s I am Legend and MBC’s Playful Kiss. But have you actually heard of their songs? They actually debuted as Bye Bye Sea with a relatively major entertainment company, not that long ago in December of 2009 with this title song called “Starlight Falls”:

So to all those Nell fans, tell me: don’t they kind of sound like Nell? And because Nell is one of my favorites, Bye Bye Sea is worth checking out.

First off, Bye Bye Sea? What kind of name is that? During their interview on Yoo Hee Yeol’s Sketchbook, they announced the meaning behind their name “Bye Bye Sea.” Namu, the vocal of the group, announced, “The band name was actually ‘I Cross With You the Sea,’ but it was too long and no one could remembered the name so we’ve all been wanting to change it to something short and meaningful. So we came up with the name ‘Bye Bye Sea,'” which is “안녕 바다.” They choose this name because “안녕” (annyong) has a sense of ambiguity (meaning both hello and goodbye) and “Sea” comes to mean them wanting to make music that never “dries out.”

Now onto the members. Bye Bye Sea has four members including Namu (vocal, guitar), Joon-Hyuk (drums), Myung-Jae (bass), and Dae-Hyun (programming, keyboard).

The timeline of their career starts goes a little like this: in 2006, they started their career on the streets of Hongdae. Then they changed their name to “Bye Bye Sea” in 2007. The following year, they signed a contract with Fluxus Entertainment for more mainstream management. Their first mini album came out in 2010 called, “Boy’s Universe.” Then they finally hit mainstream success when they appeared in both I am Legend and Playful Kiss.

So they’re still fairly new, but they’re on a path to success if I do say so myself. Now, check out another song of theirs’ called “My Mind Talks”: